Monday, 12 December 2016

Dingy Dunge - 12th December 2016

It has been another long week culminating in our Christmas
Fair in the visitors centre yesterday evening. As such I was off today and
headed down to Dungeness.It turned out
to be a shorter visit than planned as the weather closed in dramatically from
about 1230 with poor visibility and driving drizzle.

It was actually rather quiet and although we did see some
good stuff there were no good flocks of Athyas
to look through and no unusual grebes. The ARC was incredibly quiet and most of
the wildfowl and gulls were on the Burrows Pit where two redhead Smew and a
fine pink drake Goosander were trying to keep out of the breeze and incoming
weather.

Smew

Goosander

Shoveler & Gadwall - Mark Vale

The sheer number of Great Black-backed Gulls was impressive
though and I reckon well over 500 were using the islands. A good scan through
them revealed four adult Yellow-legged Gulls and adult, 3cy and 2cy Caspian Gulls but strangely no 1cys at all.
Nice to study some different ages for a change.

Big Gulls

Over 300 Stock Doves made for a swathe of grey and lavender
and the Marsh Harriers were busy quartering in search of prey. Four Great White
Egrets were seen between Denge, Hookers and Boulderwall where the drake
Ring-necked Duck was undoubtedly the highlight of the day.

Every trip needs an atmospheric Great White Egret shot...

drake Ring-necked Duck

drake Ring-necked Duck

We looked for the Black-throated Diver on Scotney with only
the Barnacle Goose flock as compensation for no diver and the turning of the
weather...

Barnies - Mark vale

There was one small consolation and I was back home (still
in the gloom) in time to look for the three Waxwings that have been living at
the top of my road in Strood for a week now but have previously been denied me
by the pre and post daylight commute...

Thankfully they quickly appeared and I watched these lovely
punks – a male and two first years- for a few minutes before retreating indoors.

1 comment:

About Me

I have been a birder for what seems like all of my forty-odd years but thankfully with that has come an all encompassing love for everything wild and wonderful. I am lucky enough to work for the RSPB at Rainham Marshes so I suspect that you might get used to a post or two from where I spend most of my time...